How does gender affect communication in Australia and Uganda?

The term gender describes the differences between male and female in relation to society, roles, abilities and etc.

Whilst males and females are both from the same specie group, they have dissimilar ways of communicating. This can affect how males and females interact with each other and how each gender understands the opposite sex. The Western culture (Australia) also has a different way of communicating to the people of Uganda. Verbal communication between men and women is very diverse. Masculine speech styles are competitive and aim to establish a hierarchy order, this is seen in both Australia and Uganda. Interrupting, competitive banter and humorous insults are all examples of this. An interruption can be used to disagree with, determine dominance over or take the attention of an opposing speaker. Competitive banter is used mostly in a playful way but it is used to challenge the status of another person during communication. This is similar to the use of humorous insults. Feminine styles of communication aim to build relationships and find common ground. Customary examples of feminine speech are back channelling, tag questions, up-talk and hedges. All these examples are much more prominent in Western culture (Australia) than they are in Uganda. Back channelling is the use of words or sentences that show support and encourage the talker to continue (‘right’ or ‘mm-hmm’). Tag questions are brief rhetorical questions placed at the end of sentences (‘isn’t it?’ or ‘weren’t you?’). These can be used to show uncertainty or to soften the harshness of a request. Up-talk is when you speak with a rising intonation at the end of a sentence. This turns the sentence into a question but takes away the risk of a direct question. Hedges are words such as ‘like’, ‘you know’, or ‘sort of’ that are used to lessen the impact of what is being said. In Uganda woman are still seen as the inferior sex so often in a tribe or village environment they will not speak unless spoken to. Non-verbal communication is quite different between men and women but also between Uganda and Australia. In Western culture Often women will nod their head whilst in a conversation to show they are listening whilst men will often stand with a neutral body position and not say anything. In Uganda both genders assume a neutral body position and are usually fairly quiet whilst another individual is talking, this is an act of respect to the other person. Since a young age the communication process with the genders are already different. Children learn a lot of their basic communication skills through the games they play, the games children play in Uganda as opposed to in Australia have the same basic concept however the neccessary tools, props or toys may not be present. Growing up in Australia, boys typically play games like basketball, cops and robbers, cowboys, tip and football, all of which are hierarchical team sports. Growing up in Uganda, boys play the same games but in a more basic style. E.g they may not have an actual football to play with, rather just a can. From these sorts of games boys learn how to be aggressive, play to win and mask emotions. Due to the hierarchy in the games, boys learn to obey their coaches, become leaders and interact with those they may not like without becoming too emotionally involved. This is fairly relevant to both Ugandan and Australian men, except typically the men in Uganda have gone through a lot more trauma and suffering which also has an effect on these qualities.Girls however, do not typically play cowboys or football at a young age. Instead they play one on one activities like dolls games. Once again, the rudimentary concept of the games remains the same in Uganda, but the basic tools may be missing. In these games there are no clear winners and losers. This type of play can reinforce being ‘nice’ to people and building good friendships. Something found in doll games is that there is usually no ‘head’ doll. This is a somewhat important rule in Western women’s communication; girls who try and be the boss generally find that it damages friendships. This is the opposite in Uganda. In a village or tribe there is almost always a head woman who is in charge of all the other woman and their duties; cooking, cleaning and parenting. Whilst the head woman has more authority than most, she is still below the men. This woman is usually, but does not have to be, married or partnered with the head male of the village or tribe. In relation to their games played as children, men and women have different leadership styles. Due to the fact that women are more relationship orientated, they often lead by consensus in Australia, mimicking the doll games played as children. Men however, tend to make decisions that are more hierarchical and include only those closest to them at their level in the decision making process, if needed. In Uganda both men and women make decisions based on what will have the best result for them, their family, and their tribe. The gender ways of processing information is also quite unalike. When making a decision, women often process their options verbally or out loud. They will ask those around them for advice and take what is said into account. Men tend to process internally and will only ask others for advice if desperately needed. This is applicable in both Australian and Uganda culture.